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MATLAB

MATLAB is a technical computing environment for high-performance numeric computation and visualization. MATLAB integrates numerical analysis, matrix computation, signal processing, and graphics in an easy-to-use environment where problems and solutions are expressed just as they are written mathematically--without traditional programming.

Availability and Restrictions

MATLAB is available on Oakley, Ruby, and Owens Clusters. The versions currently available at OSC are:

Version

Oakley

Ruby

Owens

notes

2013a

X

Default version on Oakley prior to 09/15/2015

2013b

X

2014a

X

X

Default version on Ruby prior to 09/15/2015

2014b

X*

X*

2015a

X

X

2015b

X

X

X*

2016b

X

X

X

*: Current default version

You can use module avail matlab to view available modules for a given machine. Feel free to contact OSC Help if you need other versions for your work.

Access to Ohio State University Students/Faculty

All Ohio State users must be added to the license server before using MATLAB. Please contact OSC Help to be granted access.

Access to Non Ohio State University Students/Faculty

Academic users from outside of Ohio State University can use MATLAB at OSC, if they bring their own license. Please contact OSC Help to see if you are eligible. Currently, users from the following universities can use MATLAB upon request (please contact OSC Help).

University of Dayton

Miami University of Ohio

University of Cincinnati (Math department)

Another method to use MATLAB on OSC is to use the MATLAB Distributed Computing Server on Oakley via your local MATLAB client. In order to use this feature, you should have your own MATLAB license, including the Parallel Computing Toolbox. See HOW-TO: Configure the MATLAB Parallel Computing Toolbox.

Usage on Oakley

Set-up

To load the default version of MATLAB module, use module load matlab . For a list of all available MATLAB versions and the format expected, type: module spider matlab . To select a particular software version, use module load matlab/version . For example, use module load matlab/r2014b to load MATLAB version 2014b.

Running MATLAB

The following command will start an interactive, command line version of MATLAB:

matlab -nodisplay

If you are able to use X-11 forwarding and have enabled it in your SSH client software preferences, you can run MATLAB using the GUI by typing the command matlab . For more information about the matlab command usage, type matlab –h for a complete list of command line options.

The commands listed above will run MATLAB on the login node you are connected to. As the login node is a shared resource, running scripts that require significant computational resources will impact the usability of the cluster for others. As such, you should not use interactive MATLAB sessions on the login node for any significant computation. If your MATLAB script requires significant time, CPU power, or memory, you should run your code via the batch system.

Batch Usage

When you log into oakley.osc.edu you are actually logged into a Linux box referred to as the login node. To gain access to the multiple processors in the computing environment, you must submit your job to the batch system for execution. Batch jobs can request multiple nodes/cores and compute time up to the limits of the OSC systems. Refer to Queues and Reservations and Batch Limit Rules for more info. Batch jobs run on the compute nodes of the system and not on the login node. It is desirable for big problems since more resources can be used.

Interactive Batch Session

For an interactive batch session using the command line version of MATLAB, one can run the following command:

qsub -I -X -l nodes=1:ppn=12 -l walltime=00:20:00

which requests one whole node with 12 cores ( -l nodes=1:ppn=12 ), for a walltime of 20 minutes ( -l walltime=00:20:00 ). Here you can run MATLAB interactively by loading the MATLAB module and running MATLAB with the options of your choice as described above. The –X flag enables X11 forwarding on the compute node, so you can use the MATLAB GUI if you choose.You may adjust the numbers per your need.

Non-interactive Batch Job (Serial Run)

In order to run MATLAB non-interactively via the batch system, you will require a batch submission script and a MATLAB M-file containing the script that will be run via the batch system. A batch script can be created and submitted for a serial or parallel run. You can create the batch script using any text editor you like in a working directory on the system of your choice. Below is an example batch submission script and a simple M-file. The batch script runs the M-file via the batch system.Example batch script ( job.txt ) for a serial run:

In order to run hello.m via the batch system, submit the job.txt file with the following command:

qsub job.txt

This will run hello.m via the batch system, and all output from the running of the script will be saved in the output.txt file.

Toolboxes

To view a complete list of the currently INSTALLED toolboxes, in the MATLAB command line type the command ver . OSC's current licenses support the following toolboxes (please contact oschelp@osc.edu for license-specific questions):

Parallel Processing in MATLAB

Multithreading

Multithreading allows some functions in MATLAB to distribute the work load between cores of the node that your job is running on. By default, all of the current versions of MATLAB available on the OSC clusters have multithreading enabled.

The system will use a number of threads equal to the number of cores you request. Therefore, if you request nodes=1:ppn=4, your job will only spawn four threads.

Multithreading increases the speed of some linear algebra routines, but if you would like to disable multithreading you may request nodes=1:ppn=1 and include the option -singleCompThread when running MATLAB. An example is given below:

Usage on Ruby

Set-up

To load the default version of MATLAB module, use module load matlab . For a list of all available MATLAB versions and the format expected, type: module spider matlab . To select a particular software version, use module load matlab/version . For example, use module load matlab/r2014b to load MATLAB version 2014b.

Running MATLAB

The following command will start an interactive, command line version of MATLAB:

matlab -nodisplay

If you are able to use X-11 forwarding and have enabled it in your SSH client software preferences, you can run MATLAB using the GUI by typing the command matlab . For more information about the matlab command usage, type matlab –h for a complete list of command line options.

The commands listed above will run MATLAB on the login node you are connected to. As the login node is a shared resource, running scripts that require significant computational resources will impact the usability of the cluster for others. As such, you should not use interactive MATLAB sessions on the login node for any significant computation. If your MATLAB script requires significant time, CPU power, or memory, you should run your code via the batch system.

Batch Usage

When you log into ruby.osc.edu you are actually logged into a Linux box referred to as the login node. To gain access to the multiple processors in the computing environment, you must submit your job to the batch system for execution. Batch jobs can request multiple nodes/cores and compute time up to the limits of the OSC systems. Refer to Queues and Reservations and Batch Limit Rules for more info.

Interactive Batch Session

For an interactive batch session using the command line version of MATLAB, one can run the following command:

qsub -I -X -l nodes=1:ppn=20 -l walltime=00:20:00

which requests one whole node with 20 cores ( -l nodes=1:ppn=20 ), for a walltime of 20 minutes ( -l walltime=00:20:00 ). Here you can run MATLAB interactively by loading the MATLAB module and running MATLAB with the options of your choice as described above. The –X flag enables X11 forwarding on the compute node, so you can use the MATLAB GUI if you choose.You may adjust the numbers per your need.

Toolboxes

To view a complete list of the currently INSTALLED toolboxes, in the MATLAB command line type the command ver . OSC's current licenses support the following toolboxes (please contact oschelp@osc.edu for license-specific questions):

Parallel Processing in MATLAB

Multithreading

Multithreading allows some functions in MATLAB to distribute the work load between cores of the node that your job is running on. By default, all of the current versions of MATLAB available on the OSC clusters have multithreading enabled.

Multithreading increases the speed of some linear algebra routines, but if you would like to disable multithreading you may include the option " -singleCompThread " when running MATLAB. An example is given below:

Parallel computing across multiple nodes

Parallel computing across multiple nodes is only available on Oakley.

Usage on Owens

Set-up

To load the default version of MATLAB module, use module load matlab . For a list of all available MATLAB versions and the format expected, type: module spider matlab . To select a particular software version, use module load matlab/version . For example, use module load matlab/r2015b to load MATLAB version r2015b.

Running MATLAB

The following command will start an interactive, command line version of MATLAB:

matlab -nodisplay

If you are able to use X-11 forwarding and have enabled it in your SSH client software preferences, you can run MATLAB using the GUI by typing the command matlab . For more information about the matlab command usage, type matlab –h for a complete list of command line options.

The commands listed above will run MATLAB on the login node you are connected to. As the login node is a shared resource, running scripts that require significant computational resources will impact the usability of the cluster for others. As such, you should not use interactive MATLAB sessions on the login node for any significant computation. If your MATLAB script requires significant time, CPU power, or memory, you should run your code via the batch system.

Batch Usage

When you log into owens.osc.edu you are actually logged into a Linux box referred to as the login node. To gain access to the multiple processors in the computing environment, you must submit your job to the batch system for execution. Batch jobs can request multiple nodes/cores and compute time up to the limits of the OSC systems. Refer to Queues and Reservations and Batch Limit Rules for more info.

Interactive Batch Session

For an interactive batch session using the command line version of MATLAB, one can run the following command:

qsub -I -X -l nodes=1:ppn=28 -l walltime=00:20:00

which requests one whole node with 28 cores ( -l nodes=1:ppn=28), for a walltime of 20 minutes ( -l walltime=00:20:00 ). Here you can run MATLAB interactively by loading the MATLAB module and running MATLAB with the options of your choice as described above. The –X flag enables X11 forwarding on the compute node, so you can use the MATLAB GUI if you choose.You may adjust the numbers per your need.

Toolboxes

To view a complete list of the currently INSTALLED toolboxes, in the MATLAB command line type the command ver . OSC's current licenses support the following toolboxes (please contact oschelp@osc.edu for license-specific questions):

Parallel Processing in MATLAB

Multithreading

Multithreading allows some functions in MATLAB to distribute the work load between cores of the node that your job is running on. By default, all of the current versions of MATLAB available on the OSC clusters have multithreading enabled.

Multithreading increases the speed of some linear algebra routines, but if you would like to disable multithreading you may include the option " -singleCompThread " when running MATLAB. An example is given below: